


The Other Side of the Mirror

by goldfish_soup



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure novel, Character Development, Characters with Mental Illness, Dungeons and Dragons, F/F, F/M, Fight Scenes, Good representation of the lgbtq+ comunity, Lesbians, Like, M/M, Multi, Ongoing story, Original Characters - Freeform, Original Plot, The other side of the mirror, backseat romance, dnd, gae, i also love sophie, i love Oliver a lot, i mean he is a figment of my imagination, im trying to be as accurate as possible if you want to provide help with specific mental illnesses, is that conceited?, maybe sooner for the first three chapters that are already written, my baby’s need a nap, my poor little traumatized baby, non-romance centric plot, once every two weeks or so hopefully, really just a place to put my work for now even though it won’t get attention, seriously, sketchy update schedule, soft baby bi boy, super gay, tags to be added as story progresses, ”Harold they’re lesbians”
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24002857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldfish_soup/pseuds/goldfish_soup
Summary: Sophie, Jason, Oliver, and Lizzy have been friends for a very long time, and know most everything about each other. Well, they thought so at least. Turns out Sophie’s been keeping something pretty big from them, but how will they deal with it? Will it turn into something much bigger than it seems?Only Time Will Tell.- - -A bit of a sketchy update schedule because I get distracted, But I try to publish the rough drafts when they’re done, and edit them after. I’ve been working on this novel for awhile, p l e a s e enjoy it. - Grey, your humble Shopkeep
Relationships: Jason (OC) | Oliver (OC) (Past), Lizzy (OC) | Sophie (OC), Sophie (OC) | Lena (OC)
Kudos: 1





	1. Everyone Needs a [Not so Proper] Family

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to update once every two weeks, but who knows how that will go. I already have the first three or so chapters written so that will probably be a pretty steady update schedule. Happy reading, 
> 
> -Grey, your humble Shopkeep

A blinding flash of light accompanied by a deafening laugh is what woke thirteen year old Sophie Armala Dimunion one early morning in mid October. She rose in a cold sweat, as had become more common recently. Nightmares had started to take over her usually dreamless sleep, making sure she only slept for a couple hours each night. She crawled groggily out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, glaring at her reflection. Her chin length white hair was unruly from tossing and turning all night, and the sleep that had seemed to have become a permanent issue refused to rub out of her eyes no matter how aggressively she pressed her palms into them. She gave up, yawning hugely and splashing water over her face. She yanked open a drawer, pulling out her blue colored contacts and pale concealer. She applied a single blue colored contact to her right eye in an attempt to dull her unusual appearance. Her heterochromatic eyes (Electric blue naturally on the left, Emerald green naturally on the right) were the most of the issue, though there wasn’t much she could do about the slight point in her ears. She applied the concealer to the bags under her eyes and hurried to the wardrobe, pulling on ripped white jean shorts, a black graphic shirt, and a spiked collar like choker with a white base and black spikes. She pulled her short hair messily into low pigtails, hauling herself into the kitchen. She made herself a quarter of a bowl full of Frosted Flakes, and hurried outside to meet Lizzy on the sidewalk a street down, pulling on her black and white sneakers. 

Sophie flung herself exaggeratedly over Lizzy’s shoulders, her fingers tangling subconsciously into the others fiery red braided hair, forcing the taller to support all her weight, which wasn’t a lot. Lizzy let out a groan. 

“Soph, I know you’re tired but get off-“ She was cut off by a louder groaning noise. 

“No! I’m tired shhh. I’ve got class with pretty boy Jason and I don’t want to gooooo...” Sophie whined. Jason, the most popular boy in school, had the same home room, third period, and sixth period as the white haired, and he had taken it upon himself to be the most insufferable person in the whole of every class. Lizzy rolled her eyes, dragging the shorter along with her as she made her way back to the school. They met up with Oliver and headed in separate directions. When Sophie was only a couple minutes away from her classroom, Jason fell in pace with her. Sophie rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything and continued to walk. They arrived at their home room, moving to their desks, which were on different sides of the class because of a fight they had gotten into the previous year. 

Classes passed as uneventfully as usual, leaving Sophie to trudge out of the unnecessarily cold room. She was sure she would die from boredom before she could get to her next class, though she presumed the afterlife would be preferable to this dump site. 

The school day passed similarly, and by the time everyone had made it onto the courtyard after school, the only thing keeping Sophie from passing out was the idea of visiting the Greenhouse with Lizzy and Oliver. It wasn’t hard to spot Lizzy in the overwhelming crowd, her being 6’1 had its perks, especially when Sophie was a good foot shorter than her. Sophie rushes over, clutching onto her arm to avoid being swept away by the crowd. A group of boys knock her feet out from under her, and Sophie pulls herself onto Lizzy’s back with little effort. 

“You fiends!” Sophie yells at the passing boys, looking like an angry sleep deprived raccoon. “You fools! Hazards to society!” Her yelling gets louder as the boys get farther away. Lizzy lets out a hearty laugh. She’s rather well built, maybe even considerably burly, so she has almost no trouble holding up Sophie, though the fact that Sophie is abnormally light contributes. The idea had at first worried Lizzy, she thought maybe Sophie wasn’t getting enough to eat, which would have made enough sense seeing as she lives alone, but after some intensive self care and thorough interrogation (in which Sophie insisted that she kept perfectly fine care of herself and promptly gave several slightly inappropriate suggestions as to where Lizzy could stick her therapy, fondly of course) she came to the conclusion that she was just strangely light. Oliver joined them soon after, and stopped them as Lizzy began to start towards the backroads to the Greenhouse. He looks at Sophie warily, causing her to narrow her eyes in suspicion. 

“So, um, Soph, please don’t be mad-“ 

“Then do not disappoint me child.” She says in the ethereal voice of a supreme leader expecting sacrifice. Jason joins them soon after, throwing a wink at Sophie. She scoffs at him and turns toward Oliver. 

“Traitor.” She mutters quietly, but the four of them start toward the greenhouse in silence. 

The greenhouse has been the hangout place of the group for longer than any of them can remember. Jason had always been in the group, despite Sophie’s coldness towards him, but he had stopped visiting the greenhouse with them regularly. 

The Greenhouse was a refuge. None of them had very good home lives, Oliver’s parents work overseas, and are rarely home for longer than a week or two, Jason’s dad has been drunk since his mom died in a mugging when he was five, Lizzy lives with her Aunt, who’s more on the unstable side of the spectrum, and Sophie’s dad disappeared after he had found out about mom’s ‘secret’, her mom disappeared as well soon after, but they stayed in touch. 

At first, they had started visiting an abandoned shack they had found on the backroads, when home life was especially bad, but even after everything had settled, the habit remained. Over time, as the four became more of a family than any of them had ever had, they began rebuilding the shack, leaving open places on the roof and walls to substitute for windows. The underground storage they had found (filled with metal tools, presumably to keep them from rusting, though from the state of the tools their effort had been wasted) had been cleaned out and redecorated, complete with lamps and poufs. The main shed had been filled with beds of flowers and vegetables, hence the name it had been given, the greenhouse. 

There were little things in the Greenhouse that made it theirs. The bad, like the second pouf to the right of the trapdoor leading to the cellar of the shack, when flipped over, has a red stain from when Jason showed up over the weekend with a gash along his arm, presumably from a broken beer bottle. Luckily, Sophie knew enough about first aid to clean the cut and stop the bleeding, and it thankfully wasn’t a deep enough cut for a visit to the hospital, and they passed it off as getting cut on the barbed wire on the fence that surrounded the woods. Or, the multiple scratches in the wood from when Sophie had to pull a crazed aunt away from Lizzy. Or, the patched up hole that Oliver used to throw up in, when he suffered from anorexia and ate more than his body was used to during the recovery stage. 

But even the bad was outweighed by the good, like the carving of a cosmos flower right above the entrance of the Greenhouse that Oliver had done for Lizzy, because it was her idea to grow the flowers and herbs in the first place. Or the piles of Oliver’s scattered and rejected sketches that Jason gathered and insisted on keeping. Or the stick that held onto a single peg in the wall that had been unanimously dubbed the ‘first step’ that they had found on a hike into the woods, where they had freed a stray fox from a bear trap. Or the crude painting of a quote on quote “wolf” on the ceiling from when Oliver had decided it would be a good idea to have Lizzy hold him up so he could reach the roof to paint, but they couldn’t stop laughing long enough for anything decent to come out of it, other than the memory. Or, the toy soldier Sophie and Jason had lodged in the doorframe to “ward off evil”. Or, Jason’s personal favorite, the spot where Sophie had gotten so angry about losing in a game of corn hole that she threw one of the bean bags at the Greenhouse so hard it broke a completely new hole in the wall, and she immediately forgot to be angry as she broke down in laughter. 

The group of four shuffled into the cellar once Lizzy had finished checking on her plants, and took their usual places. Jason splayed himself in the middle of the floor on the stomach, Lizzy took the pouf furthest to the left, sitting properly, taking a book from the ever growing pile and flipping the marker. Sophie flops onto the opposite pouf, curling up and resting her eyes. Oliver sits down at the makeshift desk and grabs one of his sketchbooks, and they sit in comfortable silence. For a whole blissful 45 seconds, everything is almost back to how it was. How it was before Jason got caught up with a different, more popular crowd and all but forgot about them, before Sophie started suffering from insomnia again, before things had changed. But then 45 seconds are up. 

A crash is heard and a figure drops through the trapdoor. Sophie instinctively jumps to her feet, standing in a defensive position, creating a border between the intruder and the other three. Jason and Lizzy sink towards the back of the room, and Oliver stands a short distance away from Sophie, ready to provide help as needed, but Sophie’s position falters as she sees who’s in front of her. A small girl, only half an inch or so taller than Sophie stands up, with a little help from the latter. The girl tugs her black hair behind her ear. 

“Hey, Rue, what are you doing here?” Sophie asks hesitantly, as if she’s not quite sure she wants to know the answer. Jason, Oliver, and Lizzy look startled and confused, and it’s clear that they haven’t met the new girl before, but some of the tension leaves the air. 

“Um, alp- um, your mother wants to see you.” She glances back at the others and adds as an afterthought, “All of you.” 

Sophie nods like this was what she was expecting, yet not what she was hoping for. Sophie had never been totally honest with all of her friends, sure they knew about her Heterochromia (contacts are uncomfortable to wear all day) but they never quite knew why, and she was fine with that. But she supposed with how close they had grown, maybe it was time to come clean about exactly how messed up her family was. She smiles at the three others reassuringly, gesturing for them to follow her. They do as asked, however hesitantly, but they put a lot of trust in Sophie. 

Maybe too much. 

Sophie leads them into the woods, all of them with the looming feeling that things were changing quickly. For better or for worse, none of them can decide.


	2. The Beginning of a Better End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, things are starting to get a little weird. A little complicated. But maybe they’ll catch up in time for the move.

As they walk, the group gathers closer to Sophie, offering support as she has for them so often. Almost on instinct, everyone is alert and protective, just as they’ve had to be. Sophie is grateful for the comfort, but she’s not worried about their safety. At most she’s worried they’ll think differently of her. 

Sophie leads them far into the woods, to an open clearing. A figure, tall and slightly round makes their way through the bushes. Her white hair is shaved in a buzzcut, and her face is set in what seems to be a permanently disappointed expression. She’s wearing a green sundress that matches her emerald green eyes, and her feet are bare, but it seems she doesn’t mind the sticks and grass. Sophie hums in recognition. 

“You wanted to see me?” She asks the question formally, straightening her back and keeping her hands at her sides, but the actions seem subconscious. Her mother nods, motioning them to follow. Sophie nods at the others, an affirmation to follow, and however hesitantly they do as suggested. They’re led farther into the wood until it gets so dense that it's dark as night, when Sophie’s mom turns around. She whistles and the young girl, Rue, hands her a lamp, and the light source sends an unsettling green glow over the trees. Sophie’s mom leans back against a fallen tree. The group is still in a huddle, and Sophie whispers for them to get in a line. They do as told, and Sophie finds herself silently thanking an invisible entity that her friends are so unquestioningly compliant. Her mom nods, and the sense of unease in the air intensifies as the silence drags on uncomfortably long. Suddenly, a piercing whistle followed by a thud and the sudden appearance of an arrow lodged into the tree right above Sophie’s mom’s head, but she doesn’t so much as flinch. Upon closer inspection, the four can see a piece of paper hanging off the end, and Sophie’s mom removes it with care, unrolling it and clearing her throat. The first thing that resonates with the three unfamiliar with their surroundings is her voice. It’s so unsettling that a collective shudder runs through the row, and somehow, there is no way to place where the voice is coming from, it doesn’t even seem to come from the woman in front of them. Then the words catch up to the shock. 

“The world will come to a bitter end,   
when the traitor’s heir rules again. The chosen four must take a stand, when blood-moon’s terror reins the land. The four saviors must leave their known world, or into oblivion it will be hurled.” She finishes, and for a brief moment everything stays quiet, before the silence is broken by a quiet mutter of thanks from Sophie, as she nods a bow, extending a hand to take the paper. As soon as she has it in her hand she retracts, grabbing Lizzy by the arm and dragging her hurriedly back in the direction they had come from, the others very close behind. 

~•~

The four come to an unspoken agreement to not speak about the events until everyone had been well rested. Lizzy, Oliver, and Jason made their way home and crashed almost immediately, Sophie however, was having troubles. Sure, she usually had trouble going to sleep, or at least staying asleep for long, but it had been awhile since she hadn’t fallen asleep at all. She spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, practicing whatever she was going to tell her friends the next day, and debating whether or not Jason would actually join them this time. Near five in the morning, she gets out of her bed and slips on some shoes, heading outside. She subconsciously takes the road towards Lizzy’s house. She had not intended to visit, but now that she was here she might as well. She hoisted herself through the window, looking at the familiar surroundings. Her aunt had finally been admitted to a mental ward, leaving Lizzy home alone for the past two or three weeks. Sophie slips into the kitchen. Lizzy always has the best food, she loves cooking and cleaning and providing, and Sophie loves her for it. She sneaks to the cupboard and grabs the hot chocolate mix, deciding on making hot cocoa as a peace offering for the others. She had barely finished gathering enough chocolate when a tired Lizzy came down the stairs, wielding an empty flower pot like a bat. Upon seeing that it was Sophie, she sighed and put the vase down. 

“What are you doing here? You haven’t made midnight visits since,” she pauses. “Couldn’t sleep?” Sophie nods, resuming her activity. Lizzy makes her way over to help, and they work together in silence. 

Once the drinks are finished, Sophie helps clean, both the mess in the Kitchen and the mess in the rest of the house, her personal token of gratitude that she checked in whenever she stopped by unannounced. Sometimes, Lizzy would wake up to a clean house, and there was never any need for a note, they both knew what had happened. By the time they had finished, and packed all of their school stuff, it was time to leave.. Sophie hadn’t changed from her outfit the day prior, so she borrowed one of Lizzy’s floral shirts, tying it up around her waist with a hair tie so it wouldn't look like a dress. Once they had done that, they started towards the school, each carrying two hot chocolates. They chatted as they walked, purposely avoiding the subject of the previous night. They nearly ran into Oliver and Jason once they were close to the school, apparently they had been looping the school waiting for the two of them. Opposed to the bombardment of questions she expected, they took their hot chocolates in silence, then Oliver snapped his fingers.

“Oh yeah! We were going to tell you, school got canceled. They had some sort of rat infestation in the locker rooms, and the health department is shutting it down so they can fix it.” Looking towards the school for the first time since they had arrived, they could see it was empty. The lack of chatter should have given it away, but they had been distracted. Jason nodded enthusiastically in confirmation. 

“So, we should go to the greenhouse then?” Lizzy asks, already turning towards the backroads. Everyone nods, and walks with her. This time, the questions are inevitable, but started off small. Jason was the first to speak.

“So… That was your mom?” He asks the question hesitantly, as if unsure if they were allowed to ask. Sophie nods as an answer. Oliver speaks next.

“What exactly happened? I mean, I’m confused, did she want to read us a poem or something? What even was that poem?” He sounds confused.. Sophie sighs. The Greenhouse is only a few feet away, so she suggests they wait to talk until they’re settled in. They agree, and soon, everyone has settled once again into their usual places, Sophie took a deep breath.

“How much do you trust me?”

_ ~ _

Sophie had pulled a book from underneath a couple loose floorboards, along with a handful of blank paper and a pencil. She sets up so all of them can see, and starts to flip through the book, setting it on the floor and spinning it so its facing the others. The book is called Common Lore. The words are written in a language that the three dont understand, but there’s a graph that shows a cycle. There's a silhouette of a person, a dog, and a person with wolf ears and a tail, arrows alternating between the figures. Sophie sets the papers on the table and starts scribbling. 

“The heading says ‘Werewolves’” She translates, writing accordingly. “The notes get really specific, but this one,” She points to a section. “Lists the cycles. And the one over here, lists living arrangements and sociability.” She writes down the cycles accordingly, also copying down that Werewolves generally live in packs, and are often hostile. “This,” She moves the pencil to tap a paragraph in the book. “Tells you about the races.” She scribbles down something along the lines of ‘singular race, colors vary’. “A lot of other Mystics have multiple races, like Centaurs and Squamata.” She flips the book to different pages, and back again. “But Werewolves only have one race.” She continues to scribble as fast as she can manage, translating and simplifying the paragraphs. “This is in Resugan, a language only known or translatable to creatures from this book.”

Jason shakes his head. “So all of this is real?”

Sophie nods, passing the paper to the side as she finishes. She flips to the beginning of the beginning of the book. “I won’t go into detail for the rest of these right now, but I’ll list them. There are Tetrapods, Satyrs, Centaurs, Mermaids, Werewolves, Squamata, Felidae, Nymphs, and Witches. Then, in the second half of the book, you have Familiars. Things like Unicorns, Alicorns, Pegisi, Giffins, Dragons, Sea Monsters, and Winged Wild Cats.” She flips through the pages as she lists. There’s more but she flips back to the Werewolf page. “They left something out of here, because it’s almost never happened. Sometimes, some of the more human of Mystics fall for humans, and have something called a half breed. They’re typically more powerful, because they technically have two mythicals, but they are outcast.”

“Hold on.” LIzzy interrupts. “I thought you said human, how could they have two if one of the parents doesn't even have one?”

“All humans have a Mythical, even if they aren’t born with it in power like a Mystic is. Now of course, if it was a human the effects of their Mythical would be far overpowered by the Mystic’s.” She writes her name, her mother’s name, and Rue’s name in the top corner of the translated page, with a ½ next to her own name. “These are the Werewolves that you’ve met.”

The three look at her in mild shock. They had expected something like this after she had started going through the book, but it was still far fetched. Sophie points at the graph, and moves her finger to point at the silhouette of the human with the ears and tail.

“This is a War Form. This form is not given to a Werewolf at birth, and is gained when the Werewolf is in a crisis. But the others,” She points to the other two sillouttes. “Are. A Werewolf is born with these two forms..” The group nods. Lizzy picks up the translated piece of paper and starts scanning, and Jason goes for the book.

“So all of these are real?” Oliver asks, looking over Jason’s shoulder. Sophie nods. “I know this sounds skeptical, but can you prove it?” Oliver asks the question as if he’s unsure if he wants to ask it or not. Again, Sophie nods. She stands and everyone focuses on her, as she moves to the center of the room. She takes a deep breath and stretches. A sound like straining fabric fills the room, followed by cracking noises, like bones shifting and separating. Her face elongated into a snout, her hands hit the ground, no longer hands but instead they were paws. After a moment she had fully shifted, now one of the largest dogs any of them had ever seen. It’s marking resembled a husky, and it made it’s way over and plopped itself down on top of Lizzy, making a content noise. She stretches out one more time, yawning and walking back over to where Lizzy’s shirt lay on the ground, the shorts nowhere to be seen. She narrows her eyes at the boys and they get the message, turning away. Sophie shifts back quickly, slipping on the shirt. She already has the shorts on. 

“Most of my clothes are enchanted to change with me, but this is Lizzy’s shirt.” They nod. Everyone besides Sophie is sporting amazed and puzzled expressions. She smiles, walking back over to the paper and the book. She flips quickly to the Familiars in the book, staying on the opening page. “Familiars are found in the woods, along with Mystics. They usually Disguise themselves as normal animals, like horses, wildcats, rabbits, mice, birds, snakes, deer, things like that. The easiest way to tell if an animal is a Familiar or not, is it’s gem. Every Familiar has a gem embedded somewhere on its body, and if that animal accepts you as its owner, when they touch the gem, it turns into its Familiar form.” She writes this down as she says it. She slips the translations into their according pages, closing the book. Everyone collectively nods.

“Okay, but what about the poem? What was that all about?” Jason speaks up this time, shifting to a more comfortable position on his pouf. Sophie shapes her mouth into an ‘o’ and pulls the paper out of her pocket. 

“This isn’t a poem- well, I guess it is kind of similar in format, but that’s not what it’s called. This is a prophecy.” She brandishes the paper, reciting it aloud. “The world will come to a bitter end, when the traitor’s heir rules again. The chosen four must take a stand, when blood-moon’s terror reins the land. The four saviors must leave their known world, or into oblivion it will be hurled. To put it simply, the world’s in danger again and the chosen four, us, have to stop it. Blood-Moon is a holiday, mostly celebrated between Werewolves and Feladae, and it comes around once every four years. The next one is in,” She counts quickly on her fingers, glancing at the ceiling. “Nine months.” 

“But what about the whole ‘Leave their known world’ thing? What does that mean?” Lizzy asks the question cautiously, unsure if she wants an answer. Sophie frowns, turning to Jason and Oliver.

“About that, how good are you two at lying?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m very tired, but here’s chapter two, a little early.


	3. Chance for Change

Sophie set her phone on the floor thirty minutes later. 

“That's one call down,” She scribbles on the notepad next to her a time.. “This one is for tomorrow at 5:00.” She passes the paper to the two boys, who harbor matching puzzled expressions. 

“Ya that’s great Sophie, but what’s going on at 5:00 tomorrow, and why do you keep making phone calls?” Sophie nods, not paying attention. When Jason taps on her shoulder, she starts again.

“What? Oh ya sorry, I’m bailing you out of school.” She made no further explanation as she daild the next number, bringing the phone up to her ear. “Hi Lena, ya I need to cash in a favor. Mhm… Ya of course. Ya, okay. I need one for military camp. Mhm, and the other for a college tour. Ya do both of them for a fourteen month period. Ya, starting… in a week or so. Okay, tomorrow? Oh thanks so much Lena, I owe you one.” Sophie sets the phone back down, giving herself a brief nod. “Who here has never called Oliver’s parents?” 

A puzzled expression on his face, Jason is the only one to raise his hand. Sophie snatches his phone, startling him, and begins dailing, pausing on the last number. She goes to pick up her own phone again, before thinking better of it and finishing her typing. The phone rings exactly three times before it’s answered, and the voice that floods through the phone is high pitched and sickly sweet.

“Hello, thank you for calling Oliver and Company, my name is Amelia, how may I help you.” Sophie smiles, and in her best business voice she replies.

“Hello mam, is this Amelia Burns? I have an announcement concerning your son Oliver Burns. Is it a good time?” There’s shuffling on the other end of the line and a couple mutters of excuse me, and ‘I’ll be right back’ before the closing of a door.

“Of course, now is fine. He hasn’t gotten into any trouble has he?” 

“No, of course not, I’m calling to inform you that your son has been enlisted for a college tour at Arizona Medical College. He will be taken to the college with your permission for Fourteen months, starting the first week in July, only a week away, and he will be returned the first week of September the following year. The official form and dates will be sent to you via email, tomorrow afternoon. We only call in hopes to get your approval.” Amilia waits and listens patiently, finally speaking up.

“Yes of course, I’ll tell him I’m proud, and I’ll be awaiting your form. Thank you for giving my son this opportunity.” Sophie smiles.

“Thank you, have a wonderful day.” Sophie hangs up, placing Jason’s phone on the floor, huffing a long sigh as she sunk onto a pouf. “I need a break, why don’t you pick up.”

The others groan but gather their things and put them where they belong. Sophie curls into a ball, and then stretches out again in a motion that nearly knocks a vase into Lizzy’s back. She mutters an apology before picking her phone up and dialing the last number she has to call. She seems to be dreading it more than the others. She looks warily at Jason, and as if reading her mind, he nods. The others can tell the shift in the mood, and glance back to see Jason looking worried. They pick up on the events vaguely, shifting around Sophie once again as the phone rings. The tension is unbearable, as the phone goes to voicemail. She calls again, the tension like physical weight on them all, this time it rings twelve times, and right before it goes to voicemail, a man answers the phone, the only sign that he was there was an audible grunt. Sophie takes a breath, then passes the phone to Oliver, who suddenly looks even more terrified. He shakes his head so fast that it even gives Sophie a headache. She nods, a pleading look in her eye, and he takes the phone. Sophie whispers, ‘act tough, repeat after me’. Oliver takes a deep breath and nods, shakily holding the phone to his ear. 

“Hello Sir, are you the father of Jason Paren?” He musters his best strong voice, repeating the words Sophie mouths to him. “I’m with the US Military and we’ve decided to recruit your son Jason Kent for our Military camp. We are calling for your permission. He will be gone for fourteen months. Returned next September.” There’s another grunt. 

“Serves the brat right.” There’s a click as he hangs up. Jason frowns, but looks relieved nonetheless. They let out a collective sigh, the tension leaving their shoulders as they slumped back. Sophie nods. 

“Why don’t we sleep here tonight?” Sophie offered. It wasn’t like they hadn’t before, they had enough here to do so anyways. It had gotten late, none of them had kept track of the time but by the time they checked it was nearly 11:30. They collectively nod, setting up beds out of poufs and blankets, settling down to sleep. 

•~•

Sophie woke up first. She made her way outside at four in the morning, starting her hike. The further into the woods she got, the more dense and horrible to struggle through, but after almost 50 minutes of hiking, she arrived at a village. It’s sleepy, the entire town runs on a schedule, waking up collectively at exactly six thirty, which meant she had exactly an hour and a half to get out of here. Sophie hailed as quickly as she dared to the back of the village, squeezing into an open house, darker colored than the others. A girl works at a table, she only lights a single candle that flickers periodically with every breath she takes. 

Sophie hovers in the doorway until the figure hovering over the desk notices her. She turns and now by the light of the candle Sophie can see the girl's face. Her cheek is scarred horribly and where a chunk of skin was presumably ripped out of her face and over her eye, there’s a patch of metal and a glowing red vacant metal orb in place of an eye. The cat ears that rest atop her head twitch in surprise, and as She grins in acknowledgment, her mangled face twists horribly. Sophie laughs. 

“You know you can’t freak me out like that anymore.” The figure laughs surprisingly sweetly, her freaky smile changing to something much more pleasant. 

“Worth a try S.S. Killjoy.” Her voice is startlingly high pitched. Sophie laughs fondly at the nickname, striding over toward the other figure, glancing at the desk that holds what looks like a small metal boat. 

“Latest weapon of mass destruction?” She asks. The other chuckles and nods. 

“Absolutely. Want to try it out?” An eager smile flashes across other’s face, and then disappears again. 

“We can’t, remember? Lena I promised I’d keep you in line so they would let you keep making your toys.” The girl, Lena, scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Come on Sophie they are not toys. And I know you hate having to be diplomatic all the time-“ she points at the other dramatically. “-there’s still some fun in you somewhere, just one test spin?” There’s a couple moments of silence, and then Sophie’s stoic facial expression cracks into a bright smile as she uncrosses her arms. 

“One test spin.”

It was definitely not just one test spin. 

As soon as the boat sprouted little metal spider legs and started climbing walls, all intention of doing anything else was lost until an hour and twenty-ish minutes later when they both realized what time it was. Lena rushed to grab the boat off its place on the wall. Sophie hurries to her feet, and rushes to the printer where two papers lie, turning to Lena for an affirmation. When the cat-eared girl nods, she grabs the paper, careful to be quiet as she gathers what she needs and heads for the exit. She gives the other girl’s arm as goodbye squeeze, and rushes out the door, hurrying down the cobblestone streets as the street lamps begin to turn on. She makes it to the brush of the forest just as the townsfolk start to leave their houses and start their days. Sophie sighs in relief as she starts her way back to the greenhouse. 

A few feet away from the greenhouse she spots Lizzy leaning out one of the makeshift windows. Not a second after the redhead spots her as well and waves, leaning back into the room to announce the white hair’s arrival. When Sophie enters the room, Lizzy greets her with a smile, as the boys fight to clamber up the ladder at the same time. Oliver has one leg out of the trapdoor and is using Jason’s head as a hand hold to push himself up as Jason struggles to push him off. Oliver tumbles onto the floor above the trapdoor, when he notices the papers in Sophie’s hand. 

“What are those?” He questions as Jason clambers up next to him and to his feet. Sophie looks questioning, then remembers the papers and waves them in the air. 

“Your guy’s tickets out of here.”

•~•

The four hurry to change into the spare clothes they keep at the Greenhouse and head for school, Sophie sending the faux information for the college tour to Oliver’s parents as they walk. Instead of heading for homeroom as usual, Sophie took the other three to the office. A middle aged woman with black hair pulled into what looked to be a painfully tight bun. She sat hunched over a book, her small glasses falling down her nose, and When Sophie cleared her throat she barely looked up. 

“If you’re worried about the rats, just don’t go into the locker room. You’ll be fine-“ She’s cut off by Sophie.

“No, we aren’t here about that, though isn’t that a health risk? Nevermind don’t answer that it doesn’t matter. We need to talk to the principal.” The desk lady keeps an annoyed look on her face as she presses a button on the intercom. 

“Will Principal Megan please come to the office.” The com cuts off. “There. Now sit.” She moves her head barley towards black uncomfortable looking metal chairs lined up against the wall. The three take seats next to each other in uncomfortable silence. 

Five or so agonizing minutes have passed when Principal Megan enters the office. “Yes Janice?” She asks the desk lady, who simply gestures at the four teenagers. Principal Megan looks at the four of them and invites them into a side room, labeled ‘Principal’s Office’. 

“What can I do for you four.” She sits behind her desk. Sophie approaches the surface, placing the two documents on the wood, then sitting in the chair facing her. 

“The four of us are leaving school, we just figured it would be easier to tell you together. Oliver-“ she gestures at the lanky black haired boy, “-is leaving for a college tour, lasting a year and a couple months.” She slides one of the formal looking documents towards the principal who takes a pair of glasses off her shirt and puts them on, grabbing the paper. “Jason-“ she points at the sandy haired well built boy, “Is leaving for an army camp.” She slides the other document towards her, and after glancing over the first she takes it. 

“I see both documents are signed,” Forgeries of course. She sets the papers down after a moment and looks at the other two girls over her glasses. “What about you two?” 

“As you know, both of us have been living alone for a while now, both of our guardians having left. We are moving away to live with distant family for a similar amount of time as the others, a year and a half just about.” Sophie shows forged texts between each of their guarding figures and Principal Megan nods. 

“When will you be leaving?” Sophie makes a sheepish expression. 

“Today really. I’m sorry for such short notice but we’ve been so busy with packing, we just haven’t had time to tell you.” Principal Megan sighs, taking her glasses off and hanging them on her shirt again, rubbing the bridge of her nose. 

“Alright you four. Enjoy your trips.” Sophie nods. 

“We will ma'am. Thank you.” The four leave the office, not speaking until they’re out of the school. The first step they take around the corner of the school, they break into cheers. Sophie and Oliver looking like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders, laughing in relief. 

The four converse as they walk down the backroads again. They flop onto cushions, exhaling a collective sigh of relief. 

“Man you are lucky that worked,” Oliver speaks up, “a year was pushing it with a college tour, let alone an extra two months.” Sophie’s eyes widened and she burst out in laughter. 

“I know! Oh my goodness I cannot believe that worked.” She closes her eyes, the laughs fizzling off. 

Once it’s died down, reality starts to set in. “Hey, first of all there’s no way that worked like, what? Are we in a fantasy novel and the author ran out of excuses to pull us out of school? Honestly, also where are we staying? We can’t be in our houses that would be super suspicious.”

Sophie nods at Lizzy’s questions. “That’s totally fair though. I’ve got um, a place I want to take you guys tomorrow, but I guess there’s a lot of explaining to be done in the meantime right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone wants to be my editor that’d be prettY cool. I’m just going to keep acting like I haven’t been re-writing this book for five years and I’m not super proud of it or anything

**Author's Note:**

> Remember shits not edited, I’m working on it. The chapters get longer (probably) and I would love if you left your feedback. Or don’t, just thanks for reading


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